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At the 83rd AGM of German press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA), group president and CEO Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann revealed that Drupa, a 14-day print media trade fair recently held in Düsseldorf, had brought in orders worth more than €200m, surpassing the figure for the previous Drupa in 2004. The surge in orders booked at Drupa, along with an-ticipated post-Drupa business, will substantially improve capacity utilisation and sales at KBA's sheetfed production plants. Major web press contracts booked at the turn of the year, and a brisk inflow of orders over the past few months, will keep the group's web press facili-ties busy until the end of the year and materially boost sales in the third and fourth quarters. Following the divestment of KBA's rotogravure business in September 2007, an agreement has now been reached with staff representatives on personnel reductions at the relevant plants. In addition to natural attrition, which has already trimmed the payroll by 180, and other measures such as phased retirement, there will be around 100 redundancies at KBA's Frankenthal operation. While sales of metal-decorating presses and at subsidiary KBA-Metronic were on target at the end of May, the figures for security presses failed to equal the prior year's high level. 

Bolza-Schünemann admitted that, with sales and profits flagging in the first five months, his €1.6bn end-of-March sales prognosis for 2008 represents something of a sporting challenge. However, in view of the major boost expected in the second half-year, he believes this to be a realistic figure. Notwithstanding the risks associated with market activities, currency ex-change and the financial crisis, KBA is aiming for a pre-tax profit roughly on a par with 2007 (€63.2m), following a big increase in shipments in the third and fourth quarters. 

To stabilise earnings, diversify risk and reduce the group's dependence on more volatile print markets, Bolza-Schünemann stated that KBA will continue to pursue its successful strategy of driving growth in niche print markets and is on the watch for opportunities to diversify through judicious acquisitions, and in addition to stepping up its service and consultancy ac-tivities does not exclude a move into consumables or non-print sectors such as environ-mental technology or other high-growth engineering applications. The group has already ac-quired expertise and patents on air purification through its Stuttgart subsidiary, KBA-MetalPrint. 

Defying the financial crisis, a strong euro and a pre-Drupa lag in demand for sheetfed presses, in the first three months of the year German printing press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) posted a 5.5% increase in new orders to €370.3m (2007: €350.9m). Its web and special press division bucked the industry trend with major contracts from US and Turkish newspaper publishers, which helped boost the order intake by an above-average 10.6% from €180.2m to €199.3m. And despite a sluggish US market, the volume of incoming orders for sheetfed presses, at €171m, was roughly the same as the previous year (€170.7m). 

As in the years 2004 to 2006, group sales fell well short of the prior-year figure (€301.7m, compared to €414.2m). While sheetfed sales of €144m were just 8% lower than in 2007 (€156.6m), sales of web and special presses slid by more than a third, from €257.6m to €157.7m. This is because most web presses will not ship until the second half of the year. 

The shortfall in sales impacted heavily on results, with an operating loss of €5m (2007: €13.5m profit) and pre-tax loss of €6.4m (2007: €13m profit) lagging targets by a wide margin. KBA closed the quarter with a net loss of €1m (2007: €9.3m profit) and proportional earnings per share of -6 cents (2007: +57 cents). 

The volume of unfilled orders for web and special presses rose from €565.9m to €611.5m, ensuring that the level of plant utilisation will be higher into the autumn than it was in the past few quarters. But the backlog of orders for sheetfed presses fell from €319.5m to €249m, so further contracts are needed to safeguard production in the second half-year. KBA is confident that the Drupa trade fair that opens in late May will provide the necessary stimulus.  

KBA president and CEO Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann says: "Looking beyond the unsatisfactory first-quarter sales and earnings, and notwithstanding the economic, currency and commodity-related risks our group is facing, we stand by the targets we stated in late March of around €1.6bn in sales and a pre-tax profit on a par with 2007 (€63.2m)." 

Detailed press release... 

In 2007 Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) posted group sales worth €1,703.7m, not far off the previous year's record figure of €1,741.9m. But at €1,546.9m the volume of new orders was 6.2% lower (2006: €1,649.7m) following the economic downturn in the US, weaker demand for big press lines and a slump in demand for gravure presses. The order backlog shrank accordingly to €791.9m, from €948.7m a year earlier. 

But the impact of higher material and labour costs, and provisions for capacity adjustments at web press production plants, was more than offset by systematic cost reductions and improved margins on goods shipped. As a result operating profit jumped from €46.2m in 2006 to €65.7m. Pre-tax earnings (EBT) soared to €63.2m (2006: €47.4m) and group profit climbed to €49m (2006: €34.3m), though there was a modest financial loss. Earnings per share rose to €3 (2006: €2.11). The parent's retained earnings, which determine dividend payments to shareholders, fell to €10.8m (2006: €16.1m). Nonetheless, at the annual shareholders' meeting in Würzburg on 19 June the management and supervisory boards will propose paying out €9.8m - equivalent to a dividend of 60 cents (2006: 50 cents). 

President and CEO Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann says: "Provided the global economy remains on a relatively steady footing, we anticipate group sales for 2008 of around €1.6 billion and group earnings before taxes (EBT) on a par with 2007. But in view of the current scenario and the associated risks, we are unable to make more precise projections at this point in time. When the Drupa international trade fair closes its doors in June we shall have a clearer idea of developments in key overseas markets, the investment climate in our industry and our prospects for the rest of the year and beyond." 

Detailed press release... 

New York Daily News orders multi-unit 6/2 KBA Commander CT 

Following contracts from India and Turkey early this year for a total of twelve newspaper presses, Würzburg-based German press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) recently received another major order, this time from the New York Daily News, which has reaffirmed its commitment to print with a contract for a fifteen-tower, triple-wide version of KBA’s ultra-compact Commander CT. Scheduled to go live in autumn 2009, the triple-wide Commander CT press line for the Daily News will have three sections, each with five Pastomat reelstands, five towers and one KF 7 jaw folder. Founded in 1919 as the first US daily printed in tabloid form, the Daily News is the largest and most widely read newspaper in the New York metropolitan market and the fifth largest newspaper in the country. Along with its newly redesigned web site – NYDailyNews.com – the Daily News reaches 4.6 million readers per week.
Detailed press release... 

Press manufacturers Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) in Germany and Officine Meccaniche Giovanni Cerutti S.p.A. (Cerutti) in Italy have signed an agreement transferring to Cerutti for an undisclosed sum all KBA’s intellectual property rights (know-how, industrial designs and patents) relating to rotogravure printing presses for magazines, catalogues and decorative paper. KBA will design and manufacture the folders for all new Cerutti publication rotogravure presses. In addition KBA will continue to provide after-sales service for the rotogravure presses it sold up to the date of the transaction. The agreement will allow the two groups to optimise the development and manufacture of their products and to achieve substantial synergies. It will deliver major competitive advantages to printers operating publication rotogravure presses in a highly competitive environment that is being further exacerbated by the evolution of other printing process and new communication technologies. 

The agreement was approved by KBA’s supervisory board at its latest meeting. The sale to Cerutti of KBA’s gravure business, which for some time has felt the impact of weak demand in the gravure market, will lead to personnel changes at KBA’s production plant in Frankenthal. As KBA president Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann had already announced in the company’s half-year report published in mid-August, slack demand in the newspaper industry during the past eighteen months also means that capacity must be reduced at KBA’s newspaper production plants. The scenario envisaged by the board of directors for downsizing capacity and safeguarding earnings will first be discussed by the competent worker committees before concrete figures are released. Despite the slide in demand for multi-unit press lines the KBA board reaffirmed its forecast that group profit and pre-tax earnings in 2007 would be roughly on a par with the previous year.
Detailed press release... 

At the 82nd AGM of German press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA), group president and CEO Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann reaffirmed his March projections for 2007 of group sales totalling €1.7bn and a pre-tax profit on a similar scale to last year’s €47.4m. Although investment in big newspaper and gravure press lines has been slow for the past year, buoyant demand for sheetfed and special presses meant that the volume of orders for the first five months of 2007 was a good €70m up on the prior-year figure. Sales were also higher, and KBA projects a rise in sales and a profit in the first half-year, figures for which will be published on 14 August. 

While KBA’s sheetfed division has enough orders to keep it busy until well into the fourth quarter, a year-on-year drop in the order backlog for newspaper and gravure presses, due in part to higher shipments, will cause capacity fluctuations in the second half-year at the group’s web press production plants. Because of the long lead times for web presses, recent contracts for newspaper and commercial presses will have no immediate impact on manufacturing and assembly levels. 

Having reduced the volume of work outsourced, downsized the temporary labour force and rescheduled internal manufacturing jobs, KBA is planning to introduce short-time work in certain departments from 1 July. The costs associated with this cut in capacity utilisation have already been factored into the earnings forecast for 2007. 

Says Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann: “Among newspaper publishers, investment in new kit has been hit by demographic trends in many developed economies and by the fact that daily titles in Europe and North America have now largely completed conversion to full colour. It is too soon to tell whether this is cyclic, like the downturn six years ago, a temporary phenomenon as the media industry absorbs ongoing changes in the market, or a permanent and irreversible trend. If the last hypothesis is correct we shall be obliged to trim our web press operations and focus on core components.” He was unwilling to be more specific.
Detailed press release... 

In the first three months of the year German printing press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) posted a 3% increase in group orders to €350.9m (2006: €340.6m). While demand was soft for big newspaper and gravure web presses, a brisk influx of orders for special presses helped boost new bookings for web and special presses by an above-average 7.3% to €180.2m from €167.9m. The volume of incoming orders for sheetfed presses, at €170.7m, was roughly on a par with the previous year (€172.7m). Group sales of €414.2m surpassed the prior-year figure of €309.4m by a substantial 33.9%. A big increase in shipments of commercial and security presses pushed up sales of web and special presses from €146.7m to an impressive €257.6m. However, sheetfed sales of €156.6m (2006: €162.7m) were not in line with annual targets. 

A jump in shipments reduced the volume of orders on hand from €1,072.1m twelve months earlier to €885.4m. A €319.5m (2006: €321.7m) backlog of orders for sheetfed presses, which have relatively short delivery time-frames, will keep KBA’s production plants in Radebeul and Dobruška (Czech Republic) busy until well into the second half of the year. The same cannot be said of KBA’s web press production plants, where capacity utilisation will fall in the second half-year following slack demand for big newspaper and gravure presses, which shrank the backlog of orders for web and special presses to €565.9m (2006: €750.4m).  

Cost savings and a substantial improvement in sales transformed an operating loss of €6.5m in the first quarter of 2006 into a €13.5m profit, and a net loss of €5.3m into a net profit of €9.3m. Earnings per share of 57 cents were a big improvement on the prior-year loss of 33 cents.  

Looking ahead, KBA reaffirmed its end of quarter projections that group sales and pre-tax earnings in 2007 would be similar to last year, namely €1.7bn and €47.4m.
Detailed press release... 

 

Group sales climbed 7.5% to €1,741.9m (2005: €1,621m), the highest level in KBA’s 189-year history. While a total of €1,649.7m for new bookings represented a double-digit improvement on 2004, which had been boosted by the Drupa trade fair, it was 6.7% down on the record figure for 2005 of €1,768.9m. President and CEO Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann attributed this to the smaller number of major newspaper and gravure contracts put up for tender. An increase in shipments trimmed the order backlog to €948.7m at the end of the year, from €1,040.9m in 2005. A high level of capacity utilisation at KBA’s production plants and efficiency gains from restructuring the web press division enabled the group to boost operating profit from €33.3m in 2005 to €46.2m. While the financial profit was no more than modest, pre-tax earnings (EBT) soared to €47.4m (2005: €25.8m), net group profit to €34.3m (2005: €18.5m). Earnings per share thus came to €2.11 (2005: €1.14). Although the export level of 82.7% was marginally higher than in 2005 (81.9%), group profitability in the fiercely competitive global press market was hit by the weakness of the Japanese yen, the US dollar and the Swiss franc against the euro, by higher steel and energy prices and by an increase in unit labour costs, which together wiped out some of the cost savings and productivity gains made. At the AGM on 19 June in Würzburg management and the supervisory board will propose a dividend of 50 cents per share, up from 40 cents in 2005. €8.2m of the parent’s net profit of €16.1m (2005: €6.5m) will be paid out as dividends, €7.9m reinvested. Despite softer sales of multi-unit web presses, KBA management is confident that group sales and pre-tax earnings in 2007 will be roughly on a par with 2006.
Detailed press release... 

 

In its November session Koenig & Bauer’s supervisory board approved changes at the executive level. On 31 July next year, at his own request, Andreas Mössner (43) will step down from the parent company‘s board of directors, resigning the position he has held since January 1998 as executive vice president for sales at KBA’s sheetfed division in Radebeul (Dresden). He will be replaced on 1 August 2007 by Ralf Sammeck (44), who has guided KBA North America’s sheetfed division to new heights since being appointed president and CEO in October 2002. Mössner has accepted an appointment by the supervisory board of KBA’s Austrian subsidiary, KBA-Mödling, as successor to managing director Wolfgang Schischek (62), who retires at the end of January 2008.
Detailed press release... 

 

In the third quarter the KBA group more or less wiped out a shortfall from the first half-year with an order intake worth €527.3m – the highest in any quarter in its history. New orders for the nine months to 30 September totalled €1,246.6m, just 4.8% below last year’s figure of €1,309.9m, which was boosted by a number of big contracts. Sales climbed 8.9% from €1,107.3m to €1,205.5m. The €1,082m backlog of unfilled orders was roughly the same as in 2005 (€1,095.6m). Group operating profit for the nine months to 30 September almost doubled to €30.1m (2005: €16.1m), and pre-tax earnings (EBT) more than trebled to €30.4m (2005: €8.9m). Net profit, at €22.4m, was more than five times the prior-year level of €4m. Earnings per share improved accordingly from 25 cents in 2005 to €1.38. KBA management reaffirmed its spring prognosis of annual sales in excess of €1.7bn and a pre-tax profit substantially higher than the €25.8m reported in 2005.
Detailed press release... 

 

In the first six months the KBA group posted a modest 5.1% lift in sales to €726.5m (2005: €691m). While the volume of new orders, at €719.3m, fell short of the prior year’s exceptionally high figure of €860.9m following softer sales of sheetfed, webfed gravure and security presses, the pace picked up again in July. An order backlog of €1,033.7m (2005: €1,062.9m) will keep production plants busy for the rest of the year. 

A substantial boost in earnings from web and special presses in the second quarter transformed an operating loss of €6.5m from the first quarter into an €18.8m profit (2005: €0.4m loss), even though sheetfed earnings were well below target. According to KBA president and CEO Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann, efforts to secure an innovation premium commensurate with the competitive benefits delivered over more conventional sheetfed technology are frustrated by market pressures. After deducting a financial loss of €0.1m (2005: €5.7m loss) KBA posted a pre-tax profit of €18.7m (2005: €6.1m loss), closing the quarter with a net profit of €12.5m (2005: €6.6m loss) and a proportional profit per share of 77 cents (2005: loss per share of 41 cents). 

Cash flows from operating activities eased to €52.9m, from €64.2m a year earlier, while the free cash flow shrank to €32.5m (2005: €56.5m). Funds at the end of June (€143.4m) were substantially higher than at the end of 2005 (€129m). Equity stood at €456.2m, or 31.8% of the balance sheet total. 

Notwithstanding the negative impact of hostilities in the Middle East on energy and commodity prices, currency movements and exports, KBA is targeting an increase in group sales to €1.7bn or more and a substantial improvement in profits compared to 2005.
Detailed press release... 

 

Speaking to a packed hall at the 81st AGM convened by German press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA), group president and CEO Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann reaffirmed his upbeat prognosis for 2006 despite the fact that in the first five months demand had been relatively modest. Sales topped the prior-year figure by more than €40m, and though shipping schedules meant they once again fell short of the an-nual target and thus impaired group earnings, the situation at mid-year will be better than at the end of the first quarter. While the volume of new orders failed to equal the previous year’s exceptionally high figure, and bookings for special security and gravure presses also eased, sales of sheetfed and commercial presses picked up in the second quarter. A €1bn-plus backlog of orders will keep KBA’s web press pro-duction plants busy until well into the first quarter of 2007, while the sheetfed division has sufficient orders to secure production until almost the end of the current year. In view of the big increase in sales and a more earnings-friendly shipping schedule in the second half-year, Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann saw no cause to amend his March prog-nosis of a single-digit increase in group sales and a higher pre-tax profit than in 2005 (€25.8m). However, he pointed out that the recent tariff agreements in the German metalworking and electrical industries will hit group earnings to the tune of several million euros. He added that the risks inherent in currency fluctuations between the euro and the US dollar, and movements in the prices of energy and raw materi-als, mean that it would be premature at this point in time to make a detailed prognosis with regard to sales and earnings in 2006. 

He revealed that the Federal Cartel Office had recently approved the acquisition of Stuttgart-based metal-decorating specialist LTG-Mailänder by KBA subsidiary Bauer+Kunzi, which is located in the same area and is already a major player in this lucrative niche market. By expanding its metal-decorating activities into a much bigger opera-tion with a payroll of over 300 and sales in excess of €90m KBA is aim-ing to boost its global market share and gain potentially higher returns. 

 

Metal-decorating press manufacturer Bauer+Kunzi GmbH in Ditzingen near Stuttgart, a successful supplier to the metal decorating industry since 1974, and since 2003 a subsidiary of the Würzburg printing press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA), is pursuing plans to acquire the full assets of Stuttgart-based LTG Print Systems Holding GmbH, including the latter's active metal-decorating supplier LTG-Mailänder GmbH & Co KG and the associated sales subsidiaries in Italy, Great Britain and Japan. The recently signed acquisition agreement, a transaction valued in the lower two-digit million Euro range, is to be implemented by transferring the holding of the London-quoted parent company LTG Technologies PLC. The deal is currently still subject to the expected approval of the German Federal Cartel Office. 

The acquisition of metal decorating specialist LTG-Mailänder is the logical continuation of the strategy charted over recent years by Koenig & Bauer AG, the parent company of Bauer+Kunzi GmbH, namely to flank the core competence demonstrated in a strong market position in the high-volume sectors for sheetfed offset, commercial web offset and newspaper printing with targeted acquisitions strengthening its role in niche markets less dependent on the general economic and advertising climate.
 

 

German printing press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) won contracts worth €340.6m in the first quarter, 10.9% below the record figure of €382.4m for the corresponding period in 2005. While new bookings for web and special presses jumped 21.2% to €167.9m following a string of orders for commercial and security presses and big newspaper presses, soft demand in January and February slowed the inflow of new orders for sheetfed presses to €172.7m, 29.2% down on 2005 (which, however, was 40% up on 2004). Far from signalling a downturn, the dip in sheetfed contracts proved to be a temporary blip that allowed the sheetfed offset division to consolidate strong prior-year growth before returning to business as usual in March. 

Shipping schedules resulted in group sales of €309.4m, roughly on a par with the previous year (€311.3m) but a long way off course for meeting the annual target. However, an order backlog of €1,072.1m, 11.2% up on the high prior-year figure of €964.1m, will keep KBA’s production plants busy until well into the second half of the year. 

Lagging sales also impacted on earnings, leading to an operating loss of €6.5m (2005: –€6.2m) and a net loss of €5.3m (2005: –€6.8m). The proportional loss per share was 33 cents (2005: loss of 42 cents). 

Despite a weak start to the year, KBA stands by its end-of-quarter prognosis for 2006 of a single-digit increase in sales and a substantial improvement in pre-tax earnings compared to 2005 (€25.8m).
Detailed press release... 

 

The KBA group benefited from rising domestic demand in 2005 to boost sales by an impressive 13.9% to €1,621m (2004: €1,423m). Operating profit jumped to €33.3m, from €20.4m the previous year. Pre-tax earnings (EBT) of €25.8m (2004: €16m) and a net profit of €18.6m (2004: €11.8m) were both on target, while earnings per share of €1.15 compared well with the prior year’s 73 cents. At the AGM on 22 June management and the supervisory board will therefore propose a dividend of 40 cents per share, up from 25 cents in 2004. 

The order intake climbed 21.2% to €1,768.9m (2004: €1,459.1m). Despite an increase in shipments the backlog of unfilled orders at year’s end swelled €150m to €1,040.9m (2004: €893m) and will keep KBA’s production plants busy for some months to come. 

Further details will be released this afternoon at a press conference at Pressehaus Stuttgart.
Detailed press release... 

 

At its meeting in March the Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) supervisory board signed off on the financial statements for 2005 (see separate press release) and approved a change in the executive board. Following a successful tenure, Walter Schumacher (49), executive vice-president for web press sales, marketing and service since 1 January 1999, will step down by mutual agreement on 30 April to pursue his personal roadmap. With effect from 1 May he will be succeeded by Christoph Müller (45), who joined Albert-Frankenthal (now part of KBA) in 1984 and was appointed vice president for commercial web offset and publication rotogravure sales in 1998.
Detailed press release... 

 

Third-quarter figures for German press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) showed a 25.9% increase in group order intake to €1,309.9m (2004: €1,040.1m). Group sales totalled €1,107.3m, 17.2% above the prior-year figure of €944.5m, and the order backlog was 15% higher, at €1,095.6m. As a result KBA has moved back into the black for the first time this year, with a pre-tax profit (EBT) of €10.1m. Its operating profit of €17.3m is a big improvement on the figure of €1.2m for the first six months. Net profit was €5.2m, equivalent to net earnings per share of 32 cents. Management reaffirmed the projected sales target of €1.5bn for 2005 and a higher pre-tax profit than last year’s €15.9m.
Detailed press release... 

 

German press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) booked a 17.7% increase in group order intake to €860.9m (2004: €731.6m) in the first six months, despite the absence of any exceptional stimulus like last year’s Drupa trade fair. Group sales totalled €691m, 29.2% above the prior-year figure of €534.9m. The €1,062.9m order backlog was also higher (30.06.2004: €1,053.6m) and safeguards production until well into next year. 

A €4.2m operating loss (EBIT) in the first quarter was turned into a €1.2m profit at the end of the second. A financial loss of €5.7m translated into a pre-tax loss (EBT) of €4.5m, substantially lower than a year earlier (-€18.5m). The net loss including deferred taxes was €5m (2004: -€16.5m), which corresponds to a proportionate net loss per share of 31 cents (2004: -€1.02). 

With earnings expected to receive a major boost from higher sales and a more profitable product mix in the second half of the year, KBA management reaffirmed the €1.5bn sales target announced some months earlier. The group stands by its goal for 2005 of a higher pre-tax profit than in 2004 (€15.9m).
Detailed press release... 

 

KBA group quarterly report 

Press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) has revealed that the inflow of orders in the first quarter surged to €382.4m, 23.5% up on the prior year period, with the sheetfed division outclassing all rivals to post a 40.3% jump in bookings to €243.9m. New orders for web and special presses lifted 2% to €138.5m. Group sales for the quarter totalled €311.3m, 20.7% higher than twelve months earlier. Sheetfed sales climbed 16.4% to €168.1m, web and special press sales rose 26.2% to €143.2m. 

However, a return to profit in 2004 was followed in the first quarter by a pre-tax loss (EBIT) of €4.2m (1st quarter 2004: -€3.6m) and a net loss for the quarter of €4.8m (2004: -€3.9m). This “temporary glitch” was caused by the quarterly turnover, which fell short of annual targets, by higher prices for materials and by poor margins arising from some contracts booked in previous years. 

Despite the red ink, KBA management has reaffirmed the group’s objective, announced in early April, of boosting sales to around €1.5bn (2004: €1,423m) and improving pre-tax earnings, which in 2004 totalled €15.9m. The gains delivered by cost-cutting initiatives – now completed – at KBA’s web press production facilities and by more flexible labour agreements at all its German operations will soon work through to the bottom line, along with broader profit margins for new presses soon due to ship.
Detailed press release... 

 

In 2004 German press manufacturing group Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) posted record sales of €1,423m and a big jump in new orders to €1,459.1m. Group earnings before interest and taxes totalled €20.3m, pre-tax earnings €15.9m and the annual net surplus €11.9m. At the AGM in Würzburg on 23 June the management and supervisory boards will propose a dividend of 25 cents per ordinary share. 

 

Würzburg/Dobruška: German press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) has agreed to purchase Czech counterpart Grafitec, spol. s r. o. from American investment fund Charles Investment Partners and minority shareholders for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition is part of a strategic expansion drive in the small-format sheetfed offset market and builds on the dynamic growth now being experienced in KBA’s global sales of medium- and large-format presses.
Detailed press release... 

 

KBA management and staff at the group’s web press production plants in Germany have agreed to work longer hours for no extra pay in order to reduce overheads and delivery time frames. The deal, which affects all 3,634 executive and non-executive staff, is effective from 1 January for a period of two years. KBA cited the strong euro, which is eroding group competitiveness against non-euro players, as one reason for the move. No further details were released. 

 

The group figures issued by press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) after the third quarter 2004 show that the volume of new orders has leaped 21.7% on the previous year to stand at €1,040.1m (2003: €854.3m). Sales in the first nine months of the year improved 16.8% to €944.5m (2003: €808.8m). As a result, it was possible to cut the loss before taxes (EBT) to €9.7m, slashing over 75% from the corresponding figure for the previous year (2003: €40.9m including restructuring costs) and almost 50% from the figure returned after the first six months of 2004. The continuing improvement is also expressed in the fact that, for the first time since the end of 2002, a quarterly profit before taxes (EBT) of €8.8m was posted in the third quarter of 2004. Alongside the persistent pressure on prices, revenue losses arising from below-target sales and spiralling costs for raw materials placed a squeeze on earnings. Nevertheless, management holds by the declared annual group sales target for 2004 of €1.4bn – the highest in KBA's 187-year history – and a pre-tax profit.
Detailed press release...